Upon Further Review: What to Watch for with UGA Football As the Hard Part of 2023 Arrives
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ATHENS - After a much-needed bye week, UGA Football launches headlong into the season’s final five games, starting this weekend with its annual grudge match against the Florida Gators.
With a 55-44-2 series record in favor of the Dawgs, including five of the last six, Georgia looks to render the Gators as nothing more than a speed bump enroute to another, and final, SEC East banner.
After the first seven games, it’s fair to say that no one really knows what the identity of this Georgia team is. Previous Dawg teams relied on a strong running attack, timely passing, and a stalwart defense to grind opponents down over the course of a 4-quarter game. While Georgia is quite balanced offensively this season – 262 passing attempts, 238 rushing attempts for a 52% pass / 48% rush breakdown – it appears this team must pass early and often in order to establish the running game. The nation’s 6th overall defense is still very good albeit not the brick wall Dawg fans have grown accustomed to. And with the toughest part of the schedule yet to be played, there are areas that the bye week should have addressed that will help propel the Dawgs forward. Here’s what I’m watching over the next few weeks:
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Concerns:
1. Red Zone Defense – The Dawgs are an abysmal 87th in the nation in red zone defense, allowing 87% of red zone opportunities to score (13 of 15). They allow touchdowns in 73% (11 of 15) of those opportunities. The only silver lining here is that, through 7 games, the Dawgs are averaging just over 2 red zone opportunities per contest. Over the last 5 games, only Ole Miss (#9 total offense) and Missouri (#33) are in the top 40 in total offense.
2. Setting the edge – We’ve talked about this before. While the run defense has been pretty good so far, the Dawgs have struggled at times in setting the edge. Auburn was the first team to truly test Georgia on the edge with a running quarterback. Kentucky attacked the edge with play action throwbacks, trusting the Dawgs would over pursue. Only Ole Miss and Tennessee feature the quarterback run as part of their offense, but I would watch how teams attack Georgia on the edge, especially early in games.
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3. Pressure – The Dawgs have only tallied 12 sacks so far this season, but we know that Kirby doesn’t use sacks as the sole measurement for pressure. What’s been troubling is how often Georgia gets pressure with rushing 4…it’s not much. Blitzing is a great way to rattle a quarterback, but big plays happen if you don’t get home. How Georgia can create pressure without sending additional players will be key against all the remaining opponents (except Tech). Each of those teams can create big plays with good skill position players.
4. Zone vs. Gap blocking - So, what type of blocking scheme does Georgia want to be, and with which one are they better? So far, it’s a toss-up. They’ve created chunk running plays using both blocking schemes, although the majority of longer runs have come when using a gap blocking scheme. Zone gives you more options, but it seems as if this offensive line does its best work in gap scheme. Gap requires solid backside blocking to ensure the play isn’t blown up in the backfield. So, which scheme will win out? Is it game by game, drive by drive?
5. Offense without Superman - So, we all know Brock Bowers is out for a minute. I’d be shocked if we saw him play again in the regular season. But did you know that the Dawg offense, currently ranked #3 in total offense, would still be ranked #22 if you take away the total yards Bowers has contributed to this team? Bowers’ 595 yards of offense is first on the team by a longshot, but he isn’t the only threat. Carson Beck has a plethora of weapons at his disposal. RaRa Thomas, RoJack, Ladd McConkey, Dom Lovette, and Oscar Delp leap to mind. Dillon Bell has been an unsung hero, and I believe there are specific plays we haven’t seen yet that are designed for him. Arian Smith can be a dagger if he’ll just catch the ball. Bottom line – losing Bowers hurt. But the cupboard is full of playmakers, maybe more so now than at any time in Kirby’s tenure. Watching the adjustments Mike Bobo will make without Bowers in the lineup will be fun. And I mean that in a good way!
6. Health - With Bowers as the only significant player who we can’t count on playing the rest of the season, Georgia comes out of the bye week as healthy as they’ve been since the end of fall camp. Key contributors are either back or on their way back, including Lawson Luckie, Roderick Robinson, Amarius Mims and Xavier Truss. Georgia’s depth has been tested so far this season, but it appears the Dawgs are as close to 100% availability as they’ve been all season. And they’ll need it for the stretch run.
I don’t think we’ve seen the best this team can be... yet. Getting the opportunity to work on yourself for a week before preparing for your next opponent is a godsend at this point in the season, and I’m quite sure Kirby and staff utilized every second of their 20-hour allotment of time. I’m interested to see how individual technique has improved because of the bye week. I’m interested to see what individual and team execution looks like after this focused time. I’m interested in what the offense looks like without Bowers. Five games are all that’s left in the regular season for the 2023 version of your Georgia Bulldogs. The results of these five games will either lead to an opportunity for unprecedented dominance or what could have been. And it all starts Saturday in Jacksonville against the hated Gators.